Windmills were introduced into Ireland by the Anglo-Normans and over succeeding centuries were used on a large scale to harness wind power to grind corn. There was a substantial increase in the number of mills erected after 1770 following the intensification of demand for cereal production. While many fell into disuse over the following 50 years, some 250 are shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey maps between 1830s and 1842.

Post-medieval windmills in Ireland, developed from wooden structures called post mills which remained in existence into the 17^thcentury with no surviving examples today (although a number of possible late/post-medieval mounds have been identified in Co. Meath). Early mills might have been wooden, supported on a vertical pole, around which the structure could be rotated by means of a tail-pole to face the sails to the wind.

Early more robust masonry tower mills featured from the early 17^th century with the tower mills before 1770 being cylindrical three or four-storey stone structures. Later larger tower mills were cylindrical and tapered about 5-8m in diameter and 10m high, of which the Seatown mill tower is a fine example.[1] The tower windmills had a significantly higher power ratio with this modest increase in height which was also needed in urban areas to clear buildings which could affect wind flow. The tower windmills also required an intermediate wooden staging to access the sails which no longer reached the ground with the joist sockets of same evidenced at Seatown. These newer mills were more architecturally and technologically advanced to satisfy emerging larger markets for cereals during the Napoleonic Wars. The demand for cereals diminished however after the war and with the introduction of steam-powered mills with the result that many early windmills became disused by the early 1830s.

Most of the windmills of Ireland seem to have been constructed in Ireland in the 18^th century located in the old Pale along the east coast between Cooley and Wicklow and concentrated in the cereal-production areas of Down and Wexford near ports and population centers. Ireland lacked coal as an energy source in contrast to Britain. While water-power by means of water wheels and mill ponds was a preferable and more controllable form of energy at the time, the catchment area of many rivers on the east coast was restricted.[2]

The early windmills were possibly crude affairs which gradually developed with self-acting control mechanisms to turn into the wind and the gradual replacement of canvas with pivoted wooden slats than could be altered to suit the strength of the wind.[3]These windmills also had an auxiliary windmill or “fan tail” projecting from the opposite side of the sails which was still visible in historic photographs of the Seatown windmill c1890.

The Seatown Windmill, Dundalk

A water mill is noted at Seatown Mill in the Irish Historic Towns Atlas (IHTA) built probably in the late 12^th century and possibly associated with St. Leonard’s Friary. Dundalk Mill is noted at the site in 1655 (Garstin) and an “under-shotte corne mill” in 1677 (Gosling). Although the site was previously the location of “Moyle Castle” according to the RMP, a complex of brewery buildings are described on the site by the time of the Brownriggs 1785 map. There brewer has been listed as a Mr. Henry Byrne. In a deed dated 2.2.1768 “Mr. Gerald Byrne the younger devised unto John Foster those tenements…. Including a dwelling house Brewery Malt House and several other houses… for the term of three lives…. under yearly rent…. Of two pounds fifteen shillings sterling besides other duties payable half yearly”. The brewery is referred to as ‘Mr. Ford’s Brewary” in the Longfield Collection of maps in the National Library. Adjacent to the brewery site on this map are ‘Mr. Pat Martin’s mill grounds’. Legal deeds held by the Louth Local Authorities Archives, Dundalk refer to Mr. Patrick Martin of Dundalk as a brewer.[4]

HG Tempest refers to a Mr. Martin who was an extensive householder in the town as the builder of the windmill and that ‘he built the windmill and used it for fine flour and oatmeal manufacture, and for the grinding of Indian corn (maize)’. Evidence available points towards a construction date of the windmill in the early 1790’s.[5] It would be reasonable to assume that the date of the change of use of the site from brewery to mill coincided with this.

During the Napoleonic Wars, the windmill was operated by the Kieran and Callan families who feature in an 18^th century corn census of County Louth held in the National Archives which was carried out between 1739 and 1741.

Casey & Rowan note in “The Buildings of Ireland – North Leinster” that the long vista east from Roden Place was created in the 1740s and laid out to connect with the former Hugenot Linen Works at the east end of the town incorporating Jocelyn Street and that Seatown Place was “wide and handsome, flanked by rows of c18 and c19 Georgian houses”. The major contributing factor to the new Dundalk was the industrial activity that was now flourishing in the town. The 1800s continued to be a time of success in an economic sense juxtaposed with poor living conditions for many. Many buildings were replaced by the “Dundalk Style” type which were noted in the Dublin Builder publication at the time. Although there was a depression between 1817-1820, the town subsequently recovered and the valuation list of 1838 illustrates the first expansion of the town since 1785 with an increase in the number of properties from 677 to 1410.

The windmill site c1890 with the original Century Bar on Seatown Place

By the time of the first edition Ordnance Survey c1837, the complex of buildings on the site has been rationalized with the removal of one of the central east-west wings and the possible re-building of other structures which has created an enlarged central courtyard space within which the windmill tower structure noted on the map has been constructed by the early 1790s. The Ordnance Survey Letters relating to Seatown dated 15.2.1836 noted that “In Dundalk Town there was formerly a well called Tobar Peadar; it is now closed and a windmill erected on its site”. The ancillary buildings around the windmill likely were used for corn-drying kilns and storehouses. This area of the town had developed a semi-industrial character by the time of the first edition Ordnance Survey with warehouses developed around the quays, Custom House to the north-east and a butter market on Barrack Street.

George Henry Bassett in his Louth County Guide and Directory (first published in 1886 and re-printed by the Louth Archaeological and Historical Society in 1998) describes the windmill at the time and notes that “the sail-axle protrudes from the dome but for which visitors not expert in the identification of windmill buildings might fall into the error of regarding the tower as one of the antiquities of Louth”. Bassetts Guide also notes that “when windmills were at their zenith of popularity, Dundalk had one of the largest in Ireland. The building remains in excellent condition. It towers to a height of seven stories and is most conspicuous in the view of the town from the north side of the river”.

The Bassett description continues that “Thirty years or more have passed since the sails were set for milling work. Down to about fifteen years ago the whips and gallery remained. They were removed to prevent the possibility of accident in case of these being carried away in a storm”. The lofts are still sound but the machinery is rust eaten. There are five pairs of stones (grinding).”

The Bassett account seems to indicate that the windmill was still in use for milling grain until about 1860 which is borne out by an entry in Paddy Duffy’s “Book of Dundalk” published in 1946 which states “In 1856 we were boasting of four tanneries, two salt works, two steam corn and flour mills, three soap factories, two rope walks and the largest windmill in Ireland”.

Bassett further notes that after it ceased to grind flour c1860, the property fell under the control of the Court of Chancery pending the disentanglement of legal difficulties. Mr. William Tempest received the rent for the Court and Mr. Thomas Brown (Messrs. Stephen Brown & Co., millers) had held the mill for storage purposes since 1865. By his permission it was used as an observatory by the Captain of the Harbour Commissioners’ tug-boat. [6]

By the time of the detailed 1888 Ordnance Survey, the eastern range of the courtyard has been demolished (around the current application site) and the northern range is noted as being in ruins. By the time of the c1907 Ordnance Survey, the buildings are noted as being disused with however some alteration and expansion of the footprint of the buildings on the site since the previous Ordnance Survey are evident. The Brown Milling Company are noted as the owners of the structure in the IHTA at this time.

Above: The windmill site, Seatown on the 1888 Ordnance Survey

The courtyard buildings surrounding the windmill structure were noted to have been demolished in 1965 according to the IHTA based on local information. There is evidence on site that fragments of the external walls of these buildings survive around the windmill.

Above: The windmill in the late 19th century from Seatown Place

REFERENCES:

[1] Archaeology Ireland, Post-medieval windmills in Ireland – Muiris O’Sullivan and Liam Downey

[2] Industrial Ireland An Archaeology – Colin Rynne

[3] Dundalk Democrat

[4] Geological Society of Ireland – Autumn 2003

[5] Gossiping Guide to Dundalk – HG Tempest

[6] Seatown Place Windmill – Mills & Millers Ireland vol 2, 2002